For The Heart I Once Had
by MissingExodus
Summary: Ryo thinks back on the past 3 years. Inspired by "For the Heart I Once Had" by Nightwish. Please R&R!


_**Heaven today is but a way to a place I once called home.**_

_**Heart of a child, one final sigh, as another love grows cold**_

_**Once my heart beat to the rhythm of the falling snow**_

_**Blackened below, the river now flows**_

_**A stream of molten virgin snow**_

_**For the heart I'll never have, for the child forever gone,**_

_**The music flows, because it longs for the heart I once had**_

_**-'For the Heart I Once Had' by Nightwish**_

* * *

It was a simple photograph.

The photo depicted a group of kids, all dressed in the variations of the Duel Academia uniform, including one Marufuji Ryo. The picture contained seven kids, two in red, three in blue, one in yellow, and one in black.

The two boys in red, one with a brown mop for hair and shining brown eyes and the other with large cyan blue hair and wide silver eyes hidden behind round spectacles, where smiling. The brunette, Yuki Judai by name, had an arm around the smaller, blue haired one, Marufuji Sho, and was holding the hand of a blonde haired girl in a blue uniform. Like Judai, she had a smile on her face and her hand was intertwined with Judai's, her spare hand holding the forearm a boy in blue with dark brown hair had thrown around her neck. The blue clad brunette, Tenjoin Fubuki, had a cheesy grin on his face and a free hand in the classic 'peace' sign. He was older brother to Asuka, the blonde girl whose neck he had placed his forearm around.

The boy in yellow was standing behind Judai and Sho, a smile on his face, his arms crossed over his chest as he glanced down at the clasped hands of the two other freshman. This boy had black hair and gray eyes; he was the best of Ra Yellow and answered to the name Misawa Daichi. The boy on the right side of the picture had his arms crossed and he was fuming at Judai and Asuka, obviously upset by the show of affection. This boy, Manjoume Jun, was dressed entirely in black with spiky black hair that defied gravity. Standing behind him (and technically between him and Sho) was a young man in an Obelisk uniform. He had dark teal hair and steely gray eyes. This man, Marufuji Ryo, didn't appear to be interacting with the others much, other than keeping a homicidal Manjoume from breaking up Judai and Asuka.

Although he didn't know it then, that little graduation party held between him and his closest friends, was Ryo's last night of total sanity and clarity. The last time he spent surrounded by the people who had turned the academy upside down and inside out yet weren't hated for it was the last time Ryo was completely himself. It was the last time he didn't have to pretend or put on a false mask of total confidence.

But he would never go back, not even if he could.

When he got right down to it, none of them would. Sure, they had undergone horrible, terrible things that caused all of them to suffer in some way, but they would never change any of it.

_"There is no need for regret, Marufuji-san. Simply because at some point, one way or another, everything you did is exactly what you wanted."_

The words a waitress at a restaurant he frequented spoke returned to him. Ryo remembered she had black hair pulled up into a bun tied back by a black ribbon and stormy gray eyes that shone with some hidden light. He never did catch her name…

Even though he was now wasting away in a hospital bed from a self-inflicted heart problem, Ryo would never return to being who he once was. The photograph reminded him of happier days, yes, but he had moved on. He was no longer the child who fought hard to win the approval of his principle-to-be on the top of the world. He was not the teenager who was 'perfect'. Ryo was most certainly not the hell-born demon who struck without warning, without compassion, without respect. They were who he once was and would never be again.

Sometimes, Ryo would wonder what would've happened if he hadn't bought into that shady man's 'They've-all-abandoned-you' crap. Maybe he would've picked himself up, maybe he would've left the pro leagues. Who knows? He might have even met and settled down with a nice girl. Might even have had a child on the way. But all of that was pretty much impossible now. His heart was giving up long before it should've, all because he made a few dumb choices.

So, with a final sigh filled with relief, Ryo's heart monitor flat lined. Before help could arrive, Ryo had already moved on.

"_Remember me, Marufuji-san?"_

_Ryo opened his eyes to see a beautiful black haired woman, smiling at him. She wore a bright yellow sundress and a pair of wings jutted out of her back. Instead of being the huge white bird wings, like one would expect, they were like a butterfly's wings: bright, colorful, and a good size that made flight possible. Her eyes where the most peculiar shade of gray; almost as if a storm where brewing._

"_You're..."_

_She nodded._

"_But that's impossible!"_

"_What?" she giggled, "Don't believe angels can walk among humans?"_

_She came up to him and took his hand. _

"_Come on, Ryo. You need to get fitted for a halo!"_

* * *

**The ending is kinda random, but I wanted to give the poor guy a happy ending. He deserves it, after all the crap he's been through. And yes, the waitress at the restaurant and the angel at the end are the same person. I've been listening to too many 'angels are among us' country songs. **

**'For the Heart I Once Had' is property of Nightwish, and Nightwish is not owned by me. All I know is that they are a freaking awesome band from Finland who had a kick ass new lead singer. I don't own GX either, cause if I did, 4kids certainly wouldn't have gotten their bloody hands on it. **

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


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